University of Kent, Canterbury Campus, Grimond Building (Lecture Theatre 3), CT2 7NZ
“The single biggest piece of work since the Pharoahs” (Kipling)
A conference for PhD students and Early Career Researchers
2017 marks the centenary of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
Originally named the Imperial War Graves Commission, the organisation emerged from the various bodies given responsibility for the war dead of the British Empire. Led by the remarkable Sir Fabian Ware, a man driven by a vision of imperial collaboration, the Commission took responsibility for a global project for the permanent commemoration of the dead.
Finding solutions to the vast number of questions faced by the Commission was a delicate process, and it resulted in a unique form of remembrance which has left a deep impression on people across the world.
The Centre for War, Propaganda and Society (School of History, University of Kent), Gateways to the First World War (AHRC-funded World War One Engagement Centre, University of Kent) in partnership with the Western Front Association are hosting an International conference in the CWGC’s centenary year to explore its work and legacies.
This conference is free to attend but please register
To book accommodation on campus please book and pay via the Hospitality website selecting the 3rd and/or 4th September and entering the promotion code “COMMONWEALTH17”.
Prices will be £51.50 for a single and £82.50 for a double and these prices include VAT.
Programme:
Day 1 – Monday 4th September
09:15-09:45am: Registration
9.45-10.00am: Professor Mark Connelly (University of Kent - UK) Opening comments
10.05-11.55am: Panel One (A): Dealing with the Dead (1)
Colin Harding (AHRC Colla Doctoral Candidate, University of Brighton and Imperial War Museum - UK)
Private Grief and Public Mourning
Kyle Falcon (PhD Candidate, Wilfred Laurier University - Canada)
Mystical Mourning: Spiritualism, the Great War and the Séances of the Walker Sisters 1917-1936
Dr Caroline Lord (University of Canterbury – New Zealand)
Representations of war graves and war memorials in New Zealand’s visual history of the FWW
12:00-1.20pm: Panel One (B): Dealing with the Dead (2)
Sarah Ashbridge (AHRC Doctoral Candidate, University of Bradford – UK)
Military Identification: Death, burial and identification in the landscape of industrial war 1914-18
Tim Godden (PhD Candidate, University of Kent – UK)
Unlocking Ypres
Lunch 1.20pm-2.15pm
2.15pm-3.30pm: Panel Two: Dominions
Karine Landry (MA Candidate, University of Ottawa - Canada)
Imperial War Graves Commission: A Case Study of Anglo-Canadian Relations
Natasha Silk (PhD Candidate, University of Kent – UK)
Canadian memorialisation: a case study of the Canadian war memorial at St. Julien
Dr Matthew Haultain-Gall (University of New South Wales – Australia)
Shaping Australia's memorial footprint in Belgium
3.45pm-5pm: Panel Three: Colonies
Hanna Smyth (PhD Candidate, University of Oxford – UK)
'Alien soil’, or ‘forever India’? Indian burial and material commemoration on the Western Front
Tim Clarke (PhD Candidate, University of Waterloo - Canada)
Of Dual Purpose: The 'Askari Monuments' and British Colonization in Kenya
Dominiek Dendooven (Researcher, In Flanders Fields Museum – Belgium)
Bedford House Cemetery. A virtual visit with special attention to ethnic and cultural diversity
Day two: Tuesday 5th September
09:15 – 09:45 Registration
09:45 – 11:15 Panel Four: Remembrance at the centenary
Rob Page (Researcher, Officer of British Army – UK)
Comparing Post-War and Centennial Forms of Commemoration
Hanne van den Berghe (PhD Candidate, University of Ghent – Belgium)
Military landscape: Different policies of military cemeteries and the surrounding landscape in Flanders Fields through the last century
Ashley Mackenzie-White (Educator, Pukeahu National War Memorial Park – New Zealand)
New Zealand's FWW commemorative programme: "The great pain we feel" - the return of the Unknown Warrior.
11:00 – 11:30 Q&A
12:00 Closing comments
12:30 End
